West Ridge Academy Charter School in Greeley headed to new location for 2017-18 school year

Old and new — West Ridge Academy Charter will repurpose the southernmost existing HP building, 71st Avenue and 10th Street, which served as a cafeteria, into classroom space, including a band room and choir room. It will build another, similarly sized building that will connect to the existing building. The new building will house a gym and cafeteria. The school has contracted with Roche Constructors, which built Greeley charters University Schools, Frontier Academy and Salida del Sol.

Out with the old — West Ridge bought the old HP building “as is.” That means it needs some work, but it also means West Ridge has a lot of stuff to get rid of. That may come in handy, for the right price. But the school will likely have to price stuff to sell so renovations can begin. The school must ditch ovens, sinks, racks and even walk-in coolers.

500 — That’s the eventual student enrollment goal for West Ridge. The school has about 250 students now, and expects to have 380 next year. To make that work, West Ridge will need to hire more teachers and more administrators, as Executive Director Russ Spicer is currently the only administrator.

Now enrolling — The school has openings in grades K-6 in anticipation of its move to the old HP building. The school will host a public information session at 6 p.m. Feb. 27 at the current school, 6200 20th St. For more information, call (970) 330-3671.

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Russ Spicer unlocked the deadbolt hanging between two doors fitted with plywood inserts.

The inside of the former Hewlett-Packard headquarters, at 71st Avenue and 10th Street, is dark. Boarded-up windows match the doors. Broken glass crunches underfoot.

Spicer handed out large flashlights. The beams illuminated the glass, graffiti and the occasional hole punched in drywall as Spicer spanned the 24,000-square-foot building.

But they also illuminated Spicer's dreams, and the dreams of others at West Ridge, a west Greeley charter school nearly a decade old. This building, as rough as it may seem, will be West Ridge's new home.

"Kids, parents, the board, we're all just thrilled with the opportunity to get in to a nice, new facility," Spicer said.

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West Ridge's goal of opening for the 2017-18 school year will revitalize an area of Greeley that had become an eyesore and complement many new retail options near the McDonald's. When the new retail was announced in spring 2014, city leaders thought the best options for the old HP building were some international companies. Spicer, who took over West Ridge around that same time, had other ideas.

Three years ago, Spicer came to West Ridge from Liberty Common, a Fort Collins charter school widely regarded as the best in the state. It didn't take him long to begin making a push to grow.

The 250-student, K-8 school had 400 students on a wait list at the beginning of the school year. At 48,000 square feet, the new school will give West Ridge twice as much space, perfect for the school's plans to double its number of students within the next three years.

The new site, which served as the HP cafeteria, will feature a new building jutting off to the west while the huge, brown Lego-brick-like HP office building farthest to the north will remain shuttered.

The $8.3 million price tag, financed through Charter School Revenue Bonds, will mean much higher yearly expenses than the school had when it rented space at 6200 20th St. And the five-year note ramps up the pressure to grow to capacity within three years: That would raise hopes of refinancing at a more agreeable interest rate.

For Spicer, it will be well worth it. He won't have to ask permission to do this or that, as renters do. A full 10.4-acre campus provides opportunities for a soccer field or a track, or both, down the road. A location just five minutes from the old campus means the vast majority of parents who drive their students to school each day won't have to change their morning routine too much.

The school likely won't open until late August, and that's optimistic.

"We'll be on a tight schedule," Spicer said.

He's putting it mildly, as work is just set to begin. West Ridge must be out of its old site in June and will have its furniture, equipment and more sitting in mobile storage units at the new site. Renters may be familiar with the process.

There's likely little chance teachers will get much time to move in and adjust to new surroundings, and the school year, at least for 2017-18, will run later than normal.

Spicer, who is the only administrator at West Ridge, will have to hire more staff to keep up with the expected 50 percent growth of the school by next year. Spicer is the school's business manager: He does assessments, evaluates teachers and plays the typical assistant principal role of dealing with discipline.

He'll continue to do all of that this spring while keeping tabs on progress at the new site and working to hire his team for next year.

Despite the stress, and the broken glass, Spicer was upbeat during the tour. He pointed out two drop-off points for parents, one on the northeast side of the building, another on the south side. He described a kindergarten playground on the northwest side, a 50-yard playfield and an asphalt court with basketball hoops for the older students.

"We're thrilled to death," Spicer said. "We just know what the possibilities are."

Tyler Silvy covers city and county government for The Greeley Tribune. Reach him at tsilvy@greeleytribune.com. Connect with him at Facebook.com/TylerSilvy or @TylerSilvy on Twitter.

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Old and new — West Ridge Academy Charter will repurpose the southernmost existing HP building, 71st Avenue and 10th Street, which served as a cafeteria, into classroom space, including a band room and choir room. It will build another, similarly sized building that will connect to the existing building. The new building will house a gym and cafeteria. The school has contracted with Roche Constructors, which built Greeley charters University Schools, Frontier Academy and Salida del Sol.

Out with the old — West Ridge bought the old HP building “as is.” That means it needs some work, but it also means West Ridge has a lot of stuff to get rid of. That may come in handy, for the right price. But the school will likely have to price stuff to sell so renovations can begin. The school must ditch ovens, sinks, racks and even walk-in coolers.

500 — That’s the eventual student enrollment goal for West Ridge. The school has about 250 students now, and expects to have 380 next year. To make that work, West Ridge will need to hire more teachers and more administrators, as Executive Director Russ Spicer is currently the only administrator.

Now enrolling — The school has openings in grades K-6 in anticipation of its move to the old HP building. The school will host a public information session at 6 p.m. Feb. 27 at the current school, 6200 20th St. For more information, call (970) 330-3671.